Have you heard about this site, www.donorschoose.com
It's a great resource available for teachers to use to acquire resources for your classroom. Basically you post information about yourself, your classroom and your requests. Let's say, for example, you don't have a SMARTboard but you would really like one. You could post your request on this website. A donor would come along with some money and if they liked your project they might put up money towards it. Sometimes a single person puts up the entire amount of money to fund a project but more often several donors contribute smaller amounts until your project idea is fully funded. Once the funds have been donated a check is mailed out to you. It is a really interesting concept! Check it out!
Friday, March 13, 2009
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Too Much Technology for Young Children- Is There Such a Thing??
Today at school, while assessing two of my kindergarten students, something happened to me that has never happened in my five years of teaching.
When assessing Jimmy, I had asked him to spell the word "we"- one of our kindergarten high-frequency "bedrock" words. I waited for him to write the word, and when he moved his hand so I could see, there it was- in his sloppy (but legible) handwriting- "wii". After Jimmy, I later assessed Max, and when I asked him to write the word "we", he looked at me (somewhat confused) and asked... "Like the game?".
This experience really got me thinking about how far technology has come regarding exposure to it at home, and how much it touches the daily life of young children.
At lunch I was talking with some teachers about this experience, and one teacher asked "How much technology is too much for young children, anyway?" This question got me thinking, and when I got home and spent some time on the computer, I decided to "google" to see what I could find on the internet regarding too much technology for children.
I found this article, "Kids and Tech: How Much is Too Much?" on technewsworld.com.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/52677.html?wlc=1236809784
It has a lot of interesting points. A lot of it is about television and video games, but there were portions that involved the internet and computer use.
I could summarize the whole article, but I won't. Instead, I've pulled a few quotes that I found interesting and worthy of reflection.
In the "Pros and Cons" section, there is this quote:
"In the past, we only had to be concerned about too much TV exposure. Now we have video games, computers and cell phones. It is overwhelming for young children and creates patterns of behaviors similar to addiction patterns."
It continues... "[childrens'] brains get used to too much auditory and visual stimulation -- and in the absence of these stimulations, they do not know what to do with themselves," she told TechNewsWorld. "They get anxious, restless, bored and aggressive."
"The use of this technology begins early. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 31 percent of children age three and under are already using computers. Sixteen percent use them several times a week, 21 percent can point and click with a mouse by themselves, and 11 percent can turn on the computer without assistance."
(This reminds me of those "Windows" commercials, that have really young children doing amazing things on them, like importing photos from a camera, then editing and e-mailing the photo to a family member!)
"[A researcher] summarized a point on which most medical experts can agree: Parents should supervise their children's use of technology."
I think that the last point really is THE most important... That parents need to respect technology, use it with caution and use it appropriately- not as a "babysitter" or as a replacement for real-life experiences that need to be shared between a child and a parent.
When assessing Jimmy, I had asked him to spell the word "we"- one of our kindergarten high-frequency "bedrock" words. I waited for him to write the word, and when he moved his hand so I could see, there it was- in his sloppy (but legible) handwriting- "wii". After Jimmy, I later assessed Max, and when I asked him to write the word "we", he looked at me (somewhat confused) and asked... "Like the game?".
This experience really got me thinking about how far technology has come regarding exposure to it at home, and how much it touches the daily life of young children.
At lunch I was talking with some teachers about this experience, and one teacher asked "How much technology is too much for young children, anyway?" This question got me thinking, and when I got home and spent some time on the computer, I decided to "google" to see what I could find on the internet regarding too much technology for children.
I found this article, "Kids and Tech: How Much is Too Much?" on technewsworld.com.
http://www.technewsworld.com/story/52677.html?wlc=1236809784
It has a lot of interesting points. A lot of it is about television and video games, but there were portions that involved the internet and computer use.
I could summarize the whole article, but I won't. Instead, I've pulled a few quotes that I found interesting and worthy of reflection.
In the "Pros and Cons" section, there is this quote:
"In the past, we only had to be concerned about too much TV exposure. Now we have video games, computers and cell phones. It is overwhelming for young children and creates patterns of behaviors similar to addiction patterns."
It continues... "[childrens'] brains get used to too much auditory and visual stimulation -- and in the absence of these stimulations, they do not know what to do with themselves," she told TechNewsWorld. "They get anxious, restless, bored and aggressive."
"The use of this technology begins early. According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey, 31 percent of children age three and under are already using computers. Sixteen percent use them several times a week, 21 percent can point and click with a mouse by themselves, and 11 percent can turn on the computer without assistance."
(This reminds me of those "Windows" commercials, that have really young children doing amazing things on them, like importing photos from a camera, then editing and e-mailing the photo to a family member!)
"[A researcher] summarized a point on which most medical experts can agree: Parents should supervise their children's use of technology."
I think that the last point really is THE most important... That parents need to respect technology, use it with caution and use it appropriately- not as a "babysitter" or as a replacement for real-life experiences that need to be shared between a child and a parent.
The Daily Topic- Students receive up to 6 writing prompts per week!
http://writingfix.com/classroom_tools/dailypromptgenerator.htm
I found the daily topic on the above website. I thought it would be so great to have students choose one writing prompt per week to respond to and then either post on the classroom blog or email to their teacher. The best part is that it is a free service and the topics are always new and exciting!
The Daily Topic: A Yahoo Group
Did you know you could have six random prompts e-mailed to you weekly from this prompt generator? All you have to do is join the Yahoo Group called "The Daily Topic." Click here to sign up for this free service.
Also on the writing fix website are lesson plans, journal prompts, writing traits, writing process, writing genres, writing tools for the classroom, and writing across the curriculum. Each of those topics have numerous sub-topics to assist in teaching writing.
http://writingfix.com/process_workshop.htm Tools for a Writing Classroom: The Writing Process & Writers Workshop ideas for managing and maintaining a workshop environment in your classroom. I found this site to be chalk full of writing resources.
"Writing Workshop:one teacher's approach" is an incredibly comprehensive explanation of one teachers approach to setting up an effective writing workshop for her students.
Setting Up and Maintaining a Writer's Workshop in a Secondary Classroom .
I found the daily topic on the above website. I thought it would be so great to have students choose one writing prompt per week to respond to and then either post on the classroom blog or email to their teacher. The best part is that it is a free service and the topics are always new and exciting!
The Daily Topic: A Yahoo Group
Did you know you could have six random prompts e-mailed to you weekly from this prompt generator? All you have to do is join the Yahoo Group called "The Daily Topic." Click here to sign up for this free service.
Also on the writing fix website are lesson plans, journal prompts, writing traits, writing process, writing genres, writing tools for the classroom, and writing across the curriculum. Each of those topics have numerous sub-topics to assist in teaching writing.
http://writingfix.com/process_workshop.htm Tools for a Writing Classroom: The Writing Process & Writers Workshop ideas for managing and maintaining a workshop environment in your classroom. I found this site to be chalk full of writing resources.
"Writing Workshop:one teacher's approach" is an incredibly comprehensive explanation of one teachers approach to setting up an effective writing workshop for her students.
Setting Up and Maintaining a Writer's Workshop in a Secondary Classroom .
4Teachers.org resources to help you organize
"4Teachers.org works to help you integrate technology into your classroom by offering online tools and resources. This site helps teachers locate and create ready-to-use Web lessons, quizzes, rubrics and classroom calendars. There are also tools for student use. Discover valuable professional development resources addressing issues such as equity, ELL, technology planning, and at-risk or special-needs students."
This site has links to numerous resources, some better than others, but I am sure most of us can find something useful here. The one thing I think we all need to be aware of us is not overwhelming ourselves with resources. If you don't already have a way to organize all your favorite links, beyond bookmarking, I think that is imperative. Whether you use Porto Portal or TrackStar, which is available through this link, it is important for a teachers sanity to know there is a structured place to go to that allows easy access to links, sites and lesson plans we would like to use in the classroom. This blog alone, with all of the wonderful input you have all contributed, has provided me with multiple resources that I plan to incorporate into my classroom in the future.
This site has links to numerous resources, some better than others, but I am sure most of us can find something useful here. The one thing I think we all need to be aware of us is not overwhelming ourselves with resources. If you don't already have a way to organize all your favorite links, beyond bookmarking, I think that is imperative. Whether you use Porto Portal or TrackStar, which is available through this link, it is important for a teachers sanity to know there is a structured place to go to that allows easy access to links, sites and lesson plans we would like to use in the classroom. This blog alone, with all of the wonderful input you have all contributed, has provided me with multiple resources that I plan to incorporate into my classroom in the future.
http://www.eduplace.com/tales/
This is such a silly yet fun site! It is essentially on-line madlibs. In case you have never heard of madlibs, it's an English teacher's rainy day/Friday afternoon dream. Madlibs came in books that you could use over and over if you photocopied the pages. Essentially, without knowing the content of the story, students are asked for example to give a plural noun__________, past tense verb___________, adverb_____________, adjective____________, place___________, famous person___________...to name a few examples. Then you plug those words into the story, and it is guaranteed laughs for both the teacher and students. Generally, learning grammar is confusing and tedious so finding any sort of fun alternative is a bonus for middle and even highschool English teachers as well as fourth and fifth grade teachers. My students never tired of madlibs. I also liked that students can work independently or with a friend on the computer. The program also offers part of speech support if they are stumped.
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/
Above is the link to the entire Houghton Mifflin site. It has language arts activities for students in grades K-8. My favorite link besides the web tales is the site that offers tons of graphic organizers to aid in the writing process. They have cluster graphs, desribing wheel, KWL charts, and a sandwich chart to help students learn to write paragraphs. I use to do the hamburger paragraph, which is the same idea. The graphic organizers for the younger grades has a graphic organizer for paragraph writing, but it is an ice cream cone. It is worth looking at each of the charts because they would be very useful.
This is such a silly yet fun site! It is essentially on-line madlibs. In case you have never heard of madlibs, it's an English teacher's rainy day/Friday afternoon dream. Madlibs came in books that you could use over and over if you photocopied the pages. Essentially, without knowing the content of the story, students are asked for example to give a plural noun__________, past tense verb___________, adverb_____________, adjective____________, place___________, famous person___________...to name a few examples. Then you plug those words into the story, and it is guaranteed laughs for both the teacher and students. Generally, learning grammar is confusing and tedious so finding any sort of fun alternative is a bonus for middle and even highschool English teachers as well as fourth and fifth grade teachers. My students never tired of madlibs. I also liked that students can work independently or with a friend on the computer. The program also offers part of speech support if they are stumped.
http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/
Above is the link to the entire Houghton Mifflin site. It has language arts activities for students in grades K-8. My favorite link besides the web tales is the site that offers tons of graphic organizers to aid in the writing process. They have cluster graphs, desribing wheel, KWL charts, and a sandwich chart to help students learn to write paragraphs. I use to do the hamburger paragraph, which is the same idea. The graphic organizers for the younger grades has a graphic organizer for paragraph writing, but it is an ice cream cone. It is worth looking at each of the charts because they would be very useful.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
"The Other Side" of the Internet
I understand that the Internet is a powerful tool that can bring us to new places and learn new things, but did you know that almost one in four children between the ages of 11-19 have been the victim of cyberbullying. Imagine if that was your child. Imagine if your child was doing the bullying...
Last weekend I saw a movie called "Odd Girl Out". It was a movie all about cyberbullying. As I was watching the movie I was also thinking about the past discussions about how we are not prepared for the new technologies. It made me wonder, are we ready for all of the new crimes that are happening/will happen because of the use of the internet?
Did you know that identity theft is on the rise? Be careful what you are actually doing on the internet and giving your credit card to.
Internet romance is also on the rise - but so are crimes in which people meet on the internet and one ends up dead.
I don't mean to sound negative about the internet and the great things we can do with it...but I think as a reflection to the You Tube video we need to consider if we are also prepared for all of the cyber crimes that will be on the rise in the future. Yes, schools should absolutely expose students to great websites/technologies, but we also have to have discussions/seminars about internet crimes and how to protect our children.
Just something to think about...
Last weekend I saw a movie called "Odd Girl Out". It was a movie all about cyberbullying. As I was watching the movie I was also thinking about the past discussions about how we are not prepared for the new technologies. It made me wonder, are we ready for all of the new crimes that are happening/will happen because of the use of the internet?
Did you know that identity theft is on the rise? Be careful what you are actually doing on the internet and giving your credit card to.
Internet romance is also on the rise - but so are crimes in which people meet on the internet and one ends up dead.
I don't mean to sound negative about the internet and the great things we can do with it...but I think as a reflection to the You Tube video we need to consider if we are also prepared for all of the cyber crimes that will be on the rise in the future. Yes, schools should absolutely expose students to great websites/technologies, but we also have to have discussions/seminars about internet crimes and how to protect our children.
Just something to think about...
Raz-Kids Reading Program
Raz-Kids (http://www.raz-kids.com/) is a great site for developing reading skills (fluency, decoding and comprehension) for elementary level students. They have an extensive set of short stories that are leveled (based on grade, DRA, Reading Recovery and Fountas/Pinnell). You can allow students to pick the books they want to read from the library or what I like best is set up individual libraries for each student based on their reading level. Students can read or listen to the stories and there is a short comprehension assessment after each one. You can generate a set of reports that track student progress. New books are added on a regular basis. I use it as part of my Reading Workshop, primarily for my struggling readers, but it can also be used for centers or whenever a student has access to a computer and time to read. This site is associated with another excellent resource, Reading A-Z (http://www.readinga-z.com/theme/index.html).
The only negative is that there is a cost associated with the site. It’s dependent on the number of computers that are licensed. They do have a set of books that can be tried free of charge. I’m curious if anyone knows of a similar site that may be free of charge?
The only negative is that there is a cost associated with the site. It’s dependent on the number of computers that are licensed. They do have a set of books that can be tried free of charge. I’m curious if anyone knows of a similar site that may be free of charge?
Free Resources for Elementary Teachers
Hello everyone,
I have noticed through our class presentations that we have quite a few elementary level teachers. While pulling together my own Internet Workshop activity I came across, and utilized information from www.mrdonn.org and found this to be a fantastic site, especially for those of you teaching at the grade school level. While you can find links at the bottom of the page for all subject matter, the focus for the site is social studies/history. The site offers free unit/lesson plans, free stories and handouts, and free PowerPoint presentations that you can use in your classrooms.
This is the site that led me to the list of sites I am using for introducing the 6 + 1 Writing Traits to secondary students, so I would not say it is strictly for grade school, although it is geared toward that level. Anyway, check out the site and really spend some time looking at the different types of lessons and material it offers, at the very least it is sure to inspire you.
I have noticed through our class presentations that we have quite a few elementary level teachers. While pulling together my own Internet Workshop activity I came across, and utilized information from www.mrdonn.org and found this to be a fantastic site, especially for those of you teaching at the grade school level. While you can find links at the bottom of the page for all subject matter, the focus for the site is social studies/history. The site offers free unit/lesson plans, free stories and handouts, and free PowerPoint presentations that you can use in your classrooms.
This is the site that led me to the list of sites I am using for introducing the 6 + 1 Writing Traits to secondary students, so I would not say it is strictly for grade school, although it is geared toward that level. Anyway, check out the site and really spend some time looking at the different types of lessons and material it offers, at the very least it is sure to inspire you.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Create your own Rubrics using Rubistar
I use to create my own rubrics using a template I put together until a fellow teacher told me about this site. It allows you to create rubrics using a large collection of templates that you can modify very easily. You can also create a rubric or search their database for an existing rubric. There is a teacher home page that lists all of the rubrics you have created that you can then view, modify, duplicate. or delete. It also includes a helpful tutorial. You do have to register, but it's free. It has been a tremendous timesaver for me. Hope this helps.
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php
Assistive Technology for Children with Autism
For years, different technologies have been used to improve the quality of life for people with developmental disabiltiies. This is also the same with people who have autism. Children with auitsm typically have high interest in teh area of technology. Teachers are using this strength and interest to help teach the overall understanding of their environment, expressive communication skills, social interaction skills, attention skills, motivation skills, organization skills, academic skills, self help skills and overall independent daily functioning skills. Remember when teaching children how to use the computer, that these technologies are also improving the lives of our most special children.
Blogging with James Patterson Fans!
Hey Guys and Girls! When I was looking for Internet Workshops ideas on James Patterson, I noticed that on his official website there was ways that I can incorporate blogging into my classroom. Since he has a series of young adult books titled Maximum Ride, he invites kids to blog on his site. This is a really good idea to globalize children's learning. Let it go outside the walls of the classroom! Let me know if you want to try this with me!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Using technology to make a difference
For anyone who doubts that high school students can make a difference, I invite you to view this website http://www.dhsthepromise.com/ associated with Danbury High School. In 2006, a group of students was challenged by a teacher to make a difference. Through the use of technology, these students made a powerful video entitled "The Promise". Use this link - http://www.dhsthepromise.com/ThePromiseResources.htm Besides the discussion and education that ensued after the production of the video (including national attention), the students moved our CT government to sponsor legislation to cease all investment of state dollars in companies who support the government of Sudan. This legislation was passed into law on May 8, 2006. School just does not get any more authentic that this example. Please view this video as well as the new one entitled "Child of Hope"and see the impact these students have had through the use of technology.
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